There is a continuous and even growing trend to increase the digitization of electrical devices in the household and in the field of consumer electronics. As part of this development, much effort is also being made to network the different digital devices in the household and thereby further increase their functionality. Wire-based bus systems such as the IEEE1394 bus, Powerline bus, USB bus, Ethernet, etc. are already specified and have been available for quite some time.
However, intensive work is also being conducted into standards for wireless networking of devices in the household. The so-called HIPERLAN Type 2 is cited as an example of a system which allows wireless networking of devices. In fact, this system has already been specified in an ETSI/BRAN standard. The exact title of this ETSI standard is Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN); High Performance Radio Local Area Network (HIPERLAN) Type 2. The complete standard comprises a number of parts, each of which can be ordered from ETSI in its latest version. Transmission of data as per this system takes place in the 5 GHz range. HIPERLAN2 devices contain a corresponding HIPERLAN2 interface which offers both send and receive functionality. The maximum speed of data transmission on a single channel is 32 megabits per second. This is achieved using a powerful Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFAM) transmission method. The following digital modulation methods can be used for the various subcarriers: BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, and optionally 64QAM. With these digital modulation methods, it is vital when receiving that the signal amplitude at the demodulator input is set in a defined manner. Since the HIPERLAN2 interface is essentially constructed with two integrated circuits, one of which (the so-called front-end IC) is an analog IC, with the tuner and the mixer circuits, and the other of which (the baseband processor) is a digital IC, the actual signal amplitude is determined in the digital IC, but the receive gain has to be set in the analog IC. For this purpose, it must therefore be possible to transmit data from the digital IC to the analog IC. Fluctuations in the gain setting as the result of applying setting values which transpire to be unreliable should also be avoided whenever possible. There is also a requirement for a simple bus connection between the digital IC and the analog IC, with as few wires or lines as possible. Since it is preferable for the gain setting to become effective without lengthy delays, data transmission must also be very fast.